Future
Navigating toward the best of all possible futures. Follow along as Singularity Hub discusses the future and latest trends in futurology.
Airships Are No Longer a Relic of the Past; You Could Ride in One by 2023
As concern over climate change and rising temperatures grows, the airline industry is taking heat (pun intended). Flying accounts for 2.5 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions; that’s lower than car travel and maritime...
This Century Will See Massive Shifts in the Global Population, Economy, and Power Structure
A lot of the predictions we hear about the future involve a hot, crowded planet, one where we need some serious science to figure out how to feed everyone and control rising global temperatures....
The 3D Printed Homes of the Future Are Giant Eggs on Mars
Last month, a 3D printed house that can float on a pontoon was unveiled in the Czech Republic. Last year, work started on a community of 3D printed houses for low-income families in Mexico....
How Drones and Aerial Vehicles Could Change Cities
Drones, personal flying vehicles, and air taxis may be part of our everyday life in the very near future. Drones and air taxis will create new means of mobility and transport routes. Drones will...
New Report Predicts Tech Could Fuel an Age of Freedom—or Make Civilization Collapse
With rapid technological progress running headlong into dramatic climate change and widening inequality, most experts agree the coming decade will be tumultuous. But a new report predicts it could actually make or break civilization...
Why Bitcoin Will Be Crucial in Our Cashless Future
Cold, hard cash is king. But maybe not much longer. In many countries, cash transactions are all but disappearing.
People pay with cash just 20 percent of the time in Sweden and only 14 percent...
Fixing What’s Broken: If We Build a Moral Economy, the Future Will Be Better
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, we've been eagerly awaiting a return to normal. We want to be able to go out again, see our friends, and be in public places without feeling like we're risking...
A Human-Centric World of Work: Why It Matters, and How to Build It
Long before coronavirus appeared and shattered our pre-existing “normal,” the future of work was a widely discussed and debated topic. We’ve watched automation slowly but surely expand its capabilities and take over more jobs,...
How to Make Sense of Uncertainty in a Coronavirus World
As the internet churns with information about Covid-19, about the virus that causes the disease, and about what we’re supposed to do to fight it, it can be difficult to see the forest for...
Welcome to Your Sensory Revolution, Thanks to the Pandemic
The way we see, hear, taste, touch, and smell may never be the same again.
Courtesy of Covid-19, we are undergoing a sensory revolution. All of the senses have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic—not...
A Chinese Startup Is Selling Glasses for Virus Detection to US Businesses
When will lockdowns end, and what will life be like when they do?
These are the questions on most of our minds today; we’ve accepted that even once restrictions ease, society won’t go back to...
Coronavirus: What Are the Chances We’ll Change Our Behavior in the Aftermath?
The world as we know it may never be the same. The global economy has slowed, people are living in isolation, and the death toll from an invisible killer is rising exponentially. The coronavirus...
Coronavirus Is Changing How We Live, Work, and Use Tech—Permanently
Within a week, many world leaders went from downplaying the seriousness of coronavirus to declaring a state of emergency. Even the most efficacious of nations seem to be simultaneously confused and exasperated, with delayed...
Coronavirus Is a Once in a Lifetime Chance to Reshape How We Travel
The transport sector has been impacted as much as any by the coronavirus. This isn’t a normal period of disruption, which is usually caused by failures in supply such as road accidents or industrial...
NASA’s Plan to Build a Base Camp on the Moon Sounds Like Sci-Fi, But It’s Real
If we’re ever going to make Elon Musk’s vision of colonizing Mars a reality, we first need to figure out an essential component of the plan: how to get there. After all, it’s somewhere...
What Will the World Be Like After Coronavirus? Four Possible Futures
Where will we be in six months, a year, ten years from now? I lie awake at night wondering what the future holds for my loved ones. My vulnerable friends and relatives. I wonder...
What Would Life on Mars Be Like? Millions of Us Are Getting a Taste
I live in California’s Bay Area, so for the last week and a half I’ve joined around seven million people in a shelter-in-place mandate. While my family is adjusting to this new normal, I’ve...
Do We Have to Give Up Our Personal Freedoms to Beat Coronavirus?
In late December 2019 Dr. Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital, sent a WeChat message to his medical school alumni group telling them that seven people with severe respiratory and flu-like symptoms...
16 Ways Coronavirus May Change the Way We Look at the World
Crisis. A situation where danger and opportunity intersect. In the last several weeks, we’ve heard and learned a lot about the danger and suffering caused by Covid-19. But opportunities are here too, and not...
After Coronavirus the World Will Never Be the Same. But Maybe, It Can Be Better
Life has changed a lot in the past few days, weeks, or months, depending where you live. As efforts to contain the novel coronavirus ramp up, it’s likely going to change even more. But...
Have Humans Evolved Beyond Nature—and Do We Even Need It?
Such is the extent of our dominion on Earth, that the answer to questions around whether we are still part of nature, and whether we even need some of it, rely on an understanding...
This Is What an AI Said When Asked to Predict the Year Ahead
“What’s past is prologue.” So says the famed quote from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, alleging that we can look to what has already happened as an indication of what will happen next.
This idea could be...
How Advertising Will Get Way More Personal—and Then Vanish Completely
Today, less than two decades after the arrival of the internet, Google and Facebook together command more advertising dollars than all print media on the planet.
In 2017, Google’s ad campaign revenue totaled over $95 billion,...
7 Business Models Reshaping How We Work, Live, and Create Value
Some of the most potent innovation taking place today does not involve breakthrough technologies, but rather the creation of fundamentally new business models. For most of history, these models were remarkably stable, dominated by...
The Future of Money: AI Investors, Crowdlending, and the Death of Cash
Every day, roughly 60 percent of all market trades are made by computer. When the market turns volatile, this can climb to as high as 90 percent. Robo-advisors are increasingly making this process available to...
20 Technology Metatrends That Will Define the Next Decade
In the decade ahead, waves of exponential technological advancements are stacking atop one another, eclipsing decades of breakthroughs in scale and impact.
Emerging from these waves are 20 “metatrends” likely to revolutionize entire industries (old...
How We’ll Buy Things in 2030: Smart Stores and Personalized Experiences
How do you buy your stuff? Do you get in your car, or type with your fingers?
E-commerce is surging while brick-and-mortar sales fall. What could possibly save malls and shopping centers? Enter the experience economy.
In...
Within 10 Years, We’ll Travel by Hyperloop, Rockets, and Avatars
What’s faster than autonomous vehicles and flying cars?
Try Hyperloop, rocket travel, and robotic avatars. Hyperloop is currently working towards 670 mph (1080 kph) passenger pods, capable of zipping us from Los Angeles to downtown...
2 Connections That Will Unleash a Flood of Human Capital
We are about to massively increase the amount of human genius on Earth in two distinct ways.
First, by identifying and connecting those geniuses that already exist, but lack access to the right tools (i.e....
Flying Cars, Aerial Ridesharing, and the Not-Too-Distant Future of Transport
In 2018, for the sixth straight year, Los Angeles earned the dubious honor of being the most gridlocked metropolis in the world, where the average driver spends 2.5 working weeks per year trapped in traffic.
And countless...
With These 4 Breakthroughs, We’ll Be Able to Write Whole Genomes From Scratch
The ability to read genomes has transformed our understanding of biology. Being able to write them would give us unprecedented control over the fabric of life.
Rapid advances in DNA sequencing and gene editing technology...
The End of the Chinese Miracle Is in Sight. What’s Next?
Governments around the world are rushing to keep up with emerging technologies. No one wants to be left behind as more industries and facets of life are impacted by the transition from analogue to...
Maybe Dangling a Space Elevator Off the Moon Isn’t as Ludicrous as It Sounds
When astronaut Chris Hadfield serenaded the Earth with Bowie’s Space Oddity, many of us got cracking with back-of-the-envelope calculations attempting to figure out how much the guitar cost to send up: probably around $75,000.
On...
Driverless and Electric, or Car-Free? The Cities Cutting Out Cars, and Why
It’s common consensus in the tech industry that the days of cars as we know them—powered by gas, driven by humans, and individually owned by all who want and can afford one—are numbered. Imminent...
5 Areas We Should Invest in Now to Survive Climate Change Later
Even if the world manages to keep to the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global mean temperatures to 2°C above pre-industrial levels, climate change is coming. The best way to protect ourselves from its...
Introducing the Augmented World of 2030
Augmented reality is about to add a digital intelligence layer to our every surrounding, transforming retail, manufacturing, education, tourism, real estate, and almost every major industry that holds up our economy today.
Just last year,...
The Moral Case for Lightning: A Global Private Payment Network
The other day, I went to buy dog food at my local pet shop. I bought a large bag of dog food and some treats for my dog that claimed to be able to...
Why Companies and Armies Are Hiring Science Fiction Writers
Are you a science fiction writer? Do you have command of the French language? If you can answer yes to both questions, a new job opportunity may be just the thing for you.
The recently...
What If We Visualized Humanity’s Future in Millennia Instead of Centuries?
“Where do you see yourself in five years?” It’s a classic job interview question, designed to probe your level of ambition and aspiration. And it probes about as far ahead as many of us...
Five Ways Buildings of the Future Will Use Biotech to Become Living Things
What if our homes were alive? I don’t mean smart homes with the disembodied voice of Alexa deciding the setting for your living room spotlights. I mean actually alive—growing, living, breathing, and even reproducing....
Are Robots Coming for Our Jobs? Careful, It’s a Trick Question
The robots are coming, and they’ll probably take your job when they get here.
Oh wait—have you heard that recently? As recently as, say, yesterday? In the news, or from a coworker, or in a...
A Layer of ‘Aerogel’ Could Make Mars Habitable and Even Enable Life to Develop There
Transforming the red planet to support life has long been a dream of science fiction. Mars is now too cold to support life. Its atmosphere is also too thin to protect any living organisms...
The Pentagon’s New Laser-Based Tool Uses Your Heartbeat to Track You
The government’s hefty arsenal of surveillance tools just welcomed a powerful new member. Rather than monitoring an external device—a bug or a smartphone—or even the exterior features of your face, the new tech aims...
Alphabet Releases Its Master Plan for Toronto’s New Smart City
Ever dreamed of living in a giant experiment? If so, Toronto may be the city for you. Sidewalk Labs has released blueprints for its proposed waterfront smart city and, depending who you ask, it’s...
Facebook Claims Libra Offers Economic Empowerment to Billions—an Economist Is Skeptical
Facebook is joining the cryptocurrency craze. Should we be concerned?
The social network site on June 18 said it’s launching a new cryptocurrency called Libra with the help of 27 partners, including MasterCard, Visa, ebay,...
Inching Towards Abundant Water: New Progress in Desalination Tech
In early 2018, Cape Town, South Africa came dangerously close to being the world’s first major city to run out of water. People lined up for blocks to collect spring water. Stores sold out...
As Cars Become Increasingly Driverless, People Are Already Seeking Analog Motoring Experiences
According to those in the industry, and researchers too, driverless cars will totally revolutionize the way we think about individual transport. They will change the way we work and rest. They could herald the...
5 Blockchain Breakthroughs Coming in the Next 5 Years
In almost every industry you can think of, blockchain is poised to cut out middlemen, dramatically improve transparency, and multiply the efficiency of countless transactions worldwide.
While most well-known for its application in cryptocurrencies, blockchain...
Less Like Us: An Alternate Theory of Artificial General Intelligence
The question of whether an artificial general intelligence will be developed in the future—and, if so, when it might arrive—is controversial. One (very uncertain) estimate suggests 2070 might be the earliest we could expect...
The Futuristic Tech Disrupting Real Estate and Construction
In the wake of the housing market collapse of 2008, one entrepreneur decided to dive right into the failing real estate industry. But this time, he didn’t buy any real estate to begin with....
